Former media baron Conrad Black will be back in the limelight after deal struck with Moses Znaimer's ZoomerMedia.

Conrad Black will soon be hosting his own television magazine talk show on ZoomerMedia TV. The show, to be called "The Zoomer -- Television for Boomers with Zip!" will include a feature interview in every episode as well as a segment in which Black will discuss his views about issues of the day.

Conrad Black is returning to the media spotlight, this time providing his caustic wit and large vocabulary as the host of a weekly television show called The Zoomer — Television for Boomers With Zip with Moses Znaimer’s ZoomerMedia.

The flagship program proposes to do a “weekly ‘take’ on the world from a zoomer point of view,” according to ZoomerMedia’s promotional material. Zoomers are described as people 45 years or older.

Black will conduct a feature interview “with some of the world’s greats” each week, the announcement said. He will also do an editorial segment called “Talk Black” where he provides his perspective on issues that “really get under his skin” such as ageism, pension reform and the world’s financial crisis.

Co-host Denise Donlon, a former CBC Radio executive, will conduct a zoomer roundtable featuring current affairs discussion, cooking and live performances.

ZoomerMedia head Moses Znaimer said Black was the ideal candidate for the job.

“He's one of the most learned men in the country. He's a well-established historian of serious stature. He's a witty conversationalist,” Znaimer told The Canadian Press in an interview Monday from Miami, Fla., where he is promoting the show at an international television sales conference.

“He has views on just about anything. If you are ever giving a dinner party — this is the guy you want to invite,” Znaimer said.

ZoomerMedia is producing 26 one-hour episodes of The Zoomer with the first airing in the late spring or early summer, said John Thornton, vice-president of original programming and operations at MZTV Production and Television, part of ZoomerMedia.

The Zoomer completed shooting for its pilot episode Saturday in Toronto and will air on ZoomerMedia’s VisionTV, which specializes in multi-faith and multicultural programming.

When BBC broadcaster Jeremy Paxman, pressed Black about his U.S. conviction, Black called him a “a priggish, gullible British fool” and told Paxman that most other people would “smash your face in.”

Black, former CEO of the Hollinger media conglomerate, was convicted of fraud and obstruction of justice in the United States in 2007 in relation to the sale of various Hollinger assets.

He served 37 months of a 42-month sentence in a Florida prison. He was released last May and returned to Canada on a one-year-residency permit. He surrendered his Canadian citizenship for a seat in the British House of Lords in 2001.

With files from Rob Ferguson, Hamida Ghafour and The Canadian Press

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